Difference between revisions of "Guaranteed damage reduction"

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GDR is '''not''' a form of damage reduction independent from AC. If you could have excellent GDR and terrible AC, it would do you little good. The damage reduction is capped at your GDR% of the enemy's maximum damage or 1/2 of your AC, whichever is lower.
 
GDR is '''not''' a form of damage reduction independent from AC. If you could have excellent GDR and terrible AC, it would do you little good. The damage reduction is capped at your GDR% of the enemy's maximum damage or 1/2 of your AC, whichever is lower.
  
Guaranteed damage reduction is effectively a minimum AC roll. If you take 24 damage, have 48% GDR, and you roll a 1 on your AC against a given attack, your roll will be boosted up to (50*.48=) 24 instead. But if you roll a 36 on your AC, you won't get any bonus from GDR because you're already above the minimum.
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Guaranteed damage reduction is effectively a minimum AC roll. If you take 50 damage, have 48% GDR, and you roll a 1 on your AC against a given attack, your roll will be boosted up to (50*.48=) 24 instead. But if you roll a 36 on your AC, you won't get any bonus from GDR because you're already above the minimum.
  
 
==Strategy==
 
==Strategy==

Revision as of 19:00, 28 June 2022

Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Guaranteed damage reduction (GDR) gives players a layer of protection in melee combat. Normally, each attack that hits you is reduced by a random amount up to your AC. GDR is a form of insurance against poor AC rolls.

If you have sufficient AC, you are guaranteed to reduce the damage taken by GDR% of said roll. However, GDR can't reduce damage more than AC/2. As an enemy's damage output is about as variable as your AC, a high GDR will allow you to completely negate an enemy's attacks much more often than normal, and those attacks that do get through will always be diminished.

Calculating GDR

Your GDR is calculated by the following formula: GDR% = AC^(1/4) * 16. Any means of obtaining AC counts towards your GDR.

GDR of Various AC Values

Base AC GDR
2 (Robe) 19%
6 (Scale mail) 25%
10 (Plate armour) 28%
16 (+2 Robe, aux) 32%
32 (+10 Plate armour, aux) 38%
40 (+14 Crystal plate, aux) 40%
50 43%

Auxiliary slots include a +2 Helmet, +2 Cloak, +2 Gloves, and +2 Boots.

What GDR Affects

GDR only works against one thing: physical damage dealt by monsters attacking you in melee (including via reaching). It does not work against any sort of ranged attack, be it from a physical launcher or a Conjurations spell that deals physical damage. Neither does it work against elemental melee damage, such as an ice beast's additional cold damage; however, most such elemental attacks need to deal physical damage to you before their added effects trigger, so high GDR will make them happen less often.

Guaranteed Damage Reduction Cap

GDR is not a form of damage reduction independent from AC. If you could have excellent GDR and terrible AC, it would do you little good. The damage reduction is capped at your GDR% of the enemy's maximum damage or 1/2 of your AC, whichever is lower.

Guaranteed damage reduction is effectively a minimum AC roll. If you take 50 damage, have 48% GDR, and you roll a 1 on your AC against a given attack, your roll will be boosted up to (50*.48=) 24 instead. But if you roll a 36 on your AC, you won't get any bonus from GDR because you're already above the minimum.

Strategy

GDR is tied to your AC; any form of extra AC will also increase GDR. This comes with the same costs and benefits; are you willing to sacrifice EV and spellcasting potential in order to become more bulky? Characters who want to avoid melee will still want to avoid melee as much as possible. However, GDR is a large reason why AC is more consistent in stopping damage.

For most characters, GDR will slightly reduce the maximum damage enemies can deal.

History

  • Prior to 0.27, GDR was more complex. Each set of body armour had a defined GDR, calculated by (14*(Body Armour Base AC-2)^(1/2))%, no matter what your actual AC was. Certain transmutations also had a set GDR. Gargoyles increased base GDR, while Draconians (being unable to wear body armour) didn't have any. For more information, see this past revision.